Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support!
A little history....
Steven began having some odd symptoms in late Nov/early Dec 2021. While having drinks with a dear friend who happens to be the worlds best Gastroenterologist, Steve mentioned a few of the symptoms. She encouraged Steve to just go ahead and get checked out.... even going so far as to ask a colleague to see Steve. Dr. K's office called Steve to schedule an appointment, but during the busy holiday season + life with little kids and a demanding career, Steve put it off until we took a family trip to Walt Disney World in April and his symptoms were even more obvious and concerning. At that point, Steve mentioned to me (Katie) that he wasn't going to schedule an appointment with Dr K's office because he's too busy, but if I scheduled the appointment, he would go. I immediately called and Dr K's amazing scheduler squeezed Steve in for late May. Dr K heard Steve's symptoms and immediately scheduled a colonoscopy for June 16th....when Steve was in recovery, the nurses came and got me to go back with him. Shortly after, Dr K came back with the shocking news that Steve has a large mass that he felt confident was cancer. Biopsy results later proved correct that Steve in fact has colorectal cancer.
From there, it has been a whirlwind. We are so, so lucky and have the absolute best people in our lives who began working behind the scene to assemble the amazing team that will cure Steve from this awful disease. Between these wonderful friends and my stubborn/relentless/sometimes annoyingly so, we had all the scans needed and met with the colorectal surgeon (Dr C), oncologist (Dr F) and radiation oncologist (Dr D) by the following week.
What we know so far..... While there is cancer in a few surrounding lymph nodes, it has not spread outside of the colorectal area. HUGE praise!!! I do not believe we will know "for sure" until surgery, but what we are hearing is most likely we're dealing with Stage 3 colorectal cancer. At this stage, colorectal cancer is curable-- and that is exactly what we are going for and believing will happen--- a cure! Treatment plan is 6 weeks of radiation + 6 weeks of oral chemo, 2-3 months of intravenous chemo, followed by surgery.
Steve is STRONG and ready to kick this cancer's booty (pun not intended....) As of today, our kids aren't fully aware of what's going on with daddy as we feel they are too young to really understand. We're hoping Steve's body reacts well to treatment and the kids will just see daddy getting better and better.
We covet your thoughts, prayers, love and support during this time. We appreciate you all loving us through this journey!!
Surgery went well! Dr C said it went as perfectly as perfect could be. Unfortunately, Steve is dealing with quite a bit of pain, which is being managed a bit with pain meds.
We got into the postop room about 8:00pm…. Just in time to watch the Diamondbacks game. We’re hoping and praying the pain is managed and Steve will be discharged to recover at home tomorrow.
I’ll update tomorrow- hopefully from home!! Thanks again for all the love, support, prayers, messages, etc. It truly means the world to us!
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